Jeremiah (1-31) 25:27 Commentary and Bible Study

Jeremiah is to speak to the nations and cause them to hear the Lord’s message, for he is the God of the whole earth, and whether they recognise him or not, he is sovereign over all their affairs. They must drink of this prophetic cup that Jeremiah has been given; the cup is prepared and the nations are to drink, and their drinking represents their being punished by God for all the evil they have done. This cup will bring drunkenness of a terrible sort: they will be drunk with fear and with sorrow and with confusion, for the cruelty of Babylon will be inflicted on them. Naturally they would have refused to drink if they had understood the meaning of their drinking, but if they refuse, says the Lord to Jeremiah, they will be forced to drink: ‘Ye shall certainly drink.’ The prophecy must be fulfilled; the judgment must come. Their refusing to drink is, in the language of the prophetic picture, a protest about their having to accept God’s judgment. So Jeremiah is told to show them why they cannot expect top not to drink. God is the judge of all men, and he has not withheld his judgment even from his own people. Do the nations of the earth imagine that they can avoid punishment, when it has been delivered even to Israel? Israel is called by God’s name. It is ‘a special treasure’ (Exodus 19:5), ‘an holy people unto the LORD … a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 7:6), and yet they have been taken from their land, many killed, and even the godly taken as prisoners into Babylon. God’s judgment is constantly operating in all the earth, and his eyes are looking in every place to mark man’s waywardness and deal with it. Will the nations be overlooked? Of course the nations had their own gods, and they did not recognise the God of Israel, but they would find that he alone is sovereign, and they are answerable to him. ‘I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth.’ Why are the nations told this? Why does God not simply act against them without warning them first? Because God would have them to know what is happening to them: that although they do not seek him and although they worship false gods, they have not got away from his jurisdiction. Israel also must see that God is not indifferent to the sins of those nations. In their case the punishment was remedial at least of some of them, but in the case of the nations there was no possibility of recovery.Like other parts of Jeremiah’s prophesy, verses 30 and 31 have a fulfilment in the immediate context of those days, but they also shed light on the final judgment. They repeat and reinforce the message of judgment that Jeremiah has just spoken of. Babylon will strike the known ends of the earth. But these nations represent all unbelievers who will be gathered against the people of God at the end of time, and who reject Christ, and will be condemned on the Day of Judgment.Babylon will come like a whirlwind and it will be impossible to avoid her destruction. Even the remote parts that thought they were too insignificant to be noticed will be touched. There will be the dead everywhere, but they are called the slain of the Lord, for although the hand of man has done it, this is by the decree of God.